MEA puts off Kincaid review

PALMER — With accusations of improper behavior having lingered for more than two weeks, Matanuska Electric Association Board of Directors has decided to put off until next month any decision about possible action against Director Janet Kincaid.

At first, Kincaid resisted putting the issue off, saying she “resents” any delay.

“I think it’s a frivolous claim and I think I should be heard,” Kincaid said Wednesday.

Eventually, she consented to the delay after the board decided its newly hired attorney should be given the matter to review as his first job working for the board. The allegation will be taken up again at an Oct. 13 board meeting.

Attorney Robin Brenna was hired Wednesday to advise the board of directors.

The allegations against Kincaid, who was sworn in as a board member in early July, were detailed in two sizable packets of information distributed — with choice some parts redacted — prior to the board’s Sept. 8 meeting. They appear to be the result of at least a month’s worth of investigation conducted by MEA’s senior management.

Allegations include speaking with MEA employees — something against board rules without consulting with General Manager Wayne Carmony — and allegedly providing confidential information from a closed board hearing to her son, David Kincaid, who does contract work for the electricity cooperative.

Kincaid defended herself Sept. 8 against the former but not the latter charges. She assented to management requests that the matter regarding her son — since it has potential to affect contract negotiations — be discussed in closed session.

The incidents regarding MEA employees relate to three contacts. The first Kincaid discussed involved a call she made to get tree branches cut from a power line near a piece of property she owns. Kincaid said she did not evoke her status as a board member and told the dispatcher not to rush on her account.

The second incident, she said, involved her discussions with an employee about a presentation the employee gave at the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce. Kincaid said she told the employee afterward that usual policy is for employees to introduce board members when they’re in the room and that she hoped the employee wouldn’t neglect to do so in the future.

The third contact was a complaint Kincaid said she passed along from a co-op member regarding alcohol being transported in an MEA truck.

According to the information MEA management gathered about the alleged board rules infractions, Kincaid passed along photos showing boxes of Mike’s Hard Lime and Bacardi Mojito in the truck to senior management and started a discussion at a board meeting of the co-op’s policies regarding alcohol in company trucks. She said she was just trying to follow up on a complaint.

Carmony outlines in a memorandum to the board the effects Kincaid’s contacts with employees has allegedly had on the organization. Carmony says in the memo Kincaid has sparked insubordination, violation of internal procedures, false reporting to a supervisor, notice of an employee’s intent to retain legal counsel to protect against possible future personnel actions, undermining of the chain of command, anxiety, violation of employee privacy rights, and “multiple examples of employee speculation and gossiping about how long it will take Director Kincaid to get rid of the general manager.”

Kincaid, in her point-by-point refutation of the claims, said she can’t be held responsible for any of these outcomes.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.